From infancy to old age, women are simply healthier than men. Out of the 15 leading causes of death, men lead women in all of them except Alzheimer’s disease, which many men don’t live long enough to develop. Although the gender gap is closing, men still die five years earlier than their wives, on average.
Cardiovascular Disease: The Leading Men’s Health Threat
One in five men and women will die from cardiovascular disease. For unclear reasons, though, men’s arteries develop atherosclerosis earlier than women’s. Men’s average age for death from cardiovascular disease is under 65. Women catch up about six years later.
Even in adolescence, girls’ arteries look healthier than boys’. Experts believe women’s naturally higher levels of good cholesterol (HDL) are partly responsible. Men have to work harder to reduce their risk for heart disease and stroke:
- Get your cholesterol checked, beginning at age 25 and every five years.
- Control your blood pressure and cholesterol, if they’re high.
- If you smoke, stop.
- Increase your physical activity level to 30 minutes per day, most days of the week.
- Eat more fruits and vegetables and less saturated or trans fats.
Lung Cancer: Still a Health Threat to Men
By the time it’s found, lung cancer is often advanced and difficult to cure. Less than half of men are alive a year later. Tobacco smoke causes 90 percent of all lung cancers.
Prostate Cancer: A Leading Cancer for Men
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men other than skin cancer. But while one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime, only one in 35 will die from it. Many prostate cancers are slow-growing and unlikely to spread, while others are aggressive.
Screening for prostate cancer requires a digital rectal exam (the infamous gloved finger) and a blood test for prostate specific antigen (PSA).
Depression and Suicide: Men Are at Risk
Experts previously thought depression affected far more women than men. But that may just be men’s tendency to hide depressed feelings, or express them in ways different than women’s. Instead of showing sadness or crying, men get angry or aggressive. Men are also less likely to seek help for depression.
The results can be tragic. Women attempt suicide more often, but men are more successful at completing it. Suicide is the eighth leading cause of death among all men; for young men it’s higher.
Diabetes: The Silent Health Threat for Men
Boys born today have an alarming one-in-three chance of developing diabetes in their lifetimes. Overweight and obesity are likely feeding the diabetes epidemic. Diabetes usually begins silently, without symptoms. Over years, blood sugar levels creep higher, eventually spilling into the urine. The resulting frequent urination and thirst are what finally bring many men to the doctor.
Exercise, combined with a healthy diet, can prevent type 2 diabetes. Moderate weight loss – for those who are overweight – and 30 minutes a day of physical activity reduced the chance of diabetes by more than 50 percent in men at high risk in one major study.
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